Make
learning fun for your pet and you will increase his desire to
perform.

Teach
your puppy while they're young that there is a payoff for
paying attention!

A huge
congratulations to Kate Knowles and Allie for their big win in
Philadelphia last weekend with Reserve! Kate has worked hard on her
conformation handling skills and Allie has made great progress with
her stack and looking pretty.

Do you want to
communicate clearly & effectively with your dog while building a
bonded relationship that will last a lifetime? Creating clear boundaries is essential for the success of any relationship. Our
methods are based on the science of behavior and the psychology
of learning.

We are a private horse farm and full amenity K9 facility
nestled on the North Shore of Massachusetts. We have a large grass
Schutzhund field, indoor rubber floored training building, large
fenced play yard, outdoor agility sand ring, plus 10 acres of
wooded trails for hiking & horse back riding, along with our horses,
sheep, and free range chickens
for optimized distraction training.

Have fun with
your dog!

Be your dog's motivation to
learn and perform. Take away the food, the toys, and any
other training device you use, if even for a day. Does
your dog truly enjoy you? Can you, solely you, find ways
to motivate your dog? Don't underestimate the value of
your relationship and its role in training. It's
invaluable.

Here at Fox Hill Farm,
the home of Von der Nordsee German Shepherds, we believe in a
solid temperament suitable for family life, sport, and the
work field. Our German Shepherds are bred for health,
soundness and versatility. Von der Nordsee shepherds are of the
best imported bloodlines who possess beauty and balance through
their spirit as well as structure. They all have certified hips
and elbows to ensure the best genetics are passed on to future
generations.

When I started my
involvement in the world of Schutzhund, I was told that success
required my dogs to live separately in a kennel environment.
While I understood the reasoning, it wasn't the way I wanted to
live with my dogs. I enjoy seeing my dogs run free
together on the farm, play in the sand at the beach, sack out on
the couch while we watch a movie, sleep at the foot of my bed,
and kiss my friends and family who visit. I made the
conscious decision for all of my shepherds to be pets first and
Schutzhund dogs second, a choice I have made for myself, my
family, and my dogs.

Charlie Brown says it
best, "I've decided to devote the rest of my life to making my
dog happy".

Our dogs are beloved family members who we have
dedicated our life to raising and training. Schutzhund is a
sport which rewards the partnership between a person and their
dog in three phases: Tracking, Obedience, and Protection.
Schutzhund requires an intense level of dedication and
commitment to the relationship with your dog. We
raise our puppies with positive based training methods and
believe that exposure to a multitude of surroundings is of the
utmost importance for healthy mental development.

Andy, our primary decoy, has over 20 years
experience working with animals. Growing up
on his parents Arabian breeding farm in
Wisconsin, Andy gained invaluable knowledge
with regard to behavior and animal
management. He went on to pursue a career in
genetics and reptile breeding, working full
time at NERD. In his spare time, he is
dedicated to dog training as a
handler/trainer and decoy/helper for
training sport, police, and personal
protection dogs. Andy is passionate about
working dogs and is constantly pushing
himself to evolve as a handler, decoy, and
trainer. He has competed in Schutzhund, PSA,
and French Ring as a handler and has decoyed
for the PD1 certifications two years in a
row. His strengths include patiently
developing young dogs and reading behavior
as it pertains to building their drives, as
well as rebuilding mature dogs with weak
foundation. We are very fortunate to have
such a talented, motivated, and hard working
person as our decoy. It's next to impossible
to find patience, presence, and power...all
in one guy, but Andy is all that and more.
Thank you Andy for all that you do!

Francis Holder

Francis has over 25 years experience
training dogs in obedience, protection, and
detection. He has been training dogs
professionally at the Compatible Canine in
Brookline, MA since 1997 and graduated from
Mt Ida with an associates degree in canine
studies. After graduating, he taught K9
science at Mt. Ida and continued his work as
a handler, trainer and helper/decoy at the
Compatible Canine. He has been decoying for
the police and PD1's for the last ten years.
Francis is an extremely gifted and talented
handler/trainer and decoy. It's nearly
impossible to take your eyes off of him when
he's working a dog. He has a supernatural
feel, read on behavior, and athleticism that
creates a dance between man and dog that is
a sight to see. Francis is also the rare
combination of patience, presence, and
power in developing young dogs for sport,
police, and personal protection as well as
building dogs with weak foundation. He
strategically applies the science of canine
psychology towards developing genetic and
drive strengths and weaknesses in the dog.
Andy would agree with me, there's no room
left for improvement, Francis is amazing. He
can truly bring out the best in any dog. He
is also a talented teacher who has given
many seminars in developing helper/decoys.
Thank you Francis for all that you do!